“We don’t have time—or talent—to waste on loading and unloading parts. Our cobots give our machinists their time back.”
—VP of Manufacturing, MedPro Devices
The Challenge
MedPro Devices manufactures Class II and III orthopedic implants—hip stems, spinal cages, and knee components—for several global OEMs. As elective surgeries surged post-pandemic, demand for implants increased sharply. However, their production team struggled to meet quotas due to a shortage of qualified CNC machinists.
CNC operators were spending hours per shift on non-value-added tasks like loading billet stock, cleaning workholding, and unloading finished parts. It was physically draining and created unnecessary machine downtime between cycles.
Worse, the competition for skilled machinists in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area was fierce—and hiring wasn’t keeping pace with production needs.
Solution: Collaborative Robots for CNC Machine Tending
MedPro worked with their automation integrator and a CobotWorks.org partner distributor to deploy two collaborative robots on their busiest CNC cells.
Each cobot was outfitted with a:
• Two-finger gripper for material handling
• Custom quick-swap tray system to support unattended loading
• Pneumatic blow-off nozzle to clean chips from fixtures
• Safety scanner for seamless human-cobot interaction
The cobots were assigned to run titanium and PEEK orthopedic components, using pre-validated part programs and tray setups. Operators set up the cells in the morning, and the cobots ran unattended for multiple hours—sometimes full shifts—under remote monitoring.
The Results: Precision Productivity—Without More Hiring
Within 60 days of deployment, MedPro reported:
• 29% increase in CNC uptime, thanks to consistent, unattended operation
• Freed up 3 senior machinists, who now oversee multiple cells instead of tending machines
• Zero quality deviations traced to the cobot-handled parts
• Improved compliance readiness, thanks to automated logging of part cycles
With cleanroom compliance in mind, the cobots were rated for use in ISO 7 environments and maintained within SOPs to ensure full traceability.
One of the operators said:
“The robot doesn’t replace me—it lets me use my actual skills again. It’s the best ‘co-worker’ I’ve had.”
Why It Worked: Cobot + CNC = Smart Scaling
This use case shows the power of cobots as force multipliers in precision machining environments:
• Cobots handle repetitive, time-wasting tasks—not skilled decision-making
• They run CNC machines consistently, cleanly, and safely
• They are easy to deploy and validated for medtech environments
• They deliver ROI without adding headcount or compromising compliance
MedPro now considers cobots part of its strategic capacity plan—not just a quick fix. With FDA audits and ISO certifications always on the horizon, the company values that cobots bring consistency, cleanliness, and clarity to an increasingly complex shop floor.
